46 replies to this topic

[MtlJeff]

So the past few years i've had to travel a lot more for work. And i'm sure i'll keep having to as i'm mandated to visit more customers in 2013. So i figure, much like the scene where George Clooney wooes Vera Farmiga in "up in the air", there's probably a bunch of golfwrx'ers who have funny travel stories, favorite restaurants in airports, easiest airports to get around....least favorite airports etc.

So just chime in with basically anything...

for me:

Airport i've been in the most: Toronto, but never for long periods of time. Second i'd have to say Cleveland. And there are only 2 places to get a drink in that airport in the terminal i've been in. There's a sports bar that has a few bourbon selections so i usually go there. Also Cleveland has free Wi-fi. Way to go on that one! Few places do anymore

Favorite Airport for long layovers: Denver....there's a lot of good options there. It's really big

Easiest decent size airport to navigate: San Francisco....right off the highway, elevated train that shuttles you to each terminal that is very straight forward.

Disappointing airport: Chicago international departures terminal....there was nothing in there. Like a Mcdonalds and a few other fast food type things that's it.

Best (or most surprising) meal i've had in an airport: Gotta be the Sandwich i had at "the earl of sandwich" in Detroit. They called themselves the best hot sandwich in the world, and i gotta say, pretty darn close. Not bad for a small kioske type joint there


Like i said....chime in with just about anything. Best experiences...worst etc...

[Thrillhouse]

My funniest travel story is that time my native krakozhia had a civil war while I was en route to JFK and they couldn't let me through customs because my passport wasn't recognized. I wound up living in the terminal for a year. It wasn't bad, I made some friends, met a hottie, got Bennie golsons autograph.

[Hutch306]

Thrillhouse, on 24 February 2013 - 09:57 PM, said:

My funniest travel story is that time my native krakozhia had a civil war while I was en route to JFK and they couldn't let me through customs because my passport wasn't recognized. I wound up living in the terminal for a year. It wasn't bad, I made some friends, met a hottie, got Bennie golsons autograph.

Listen, I'm no movie writer or anything, but I'm pretty sure you could turn this into a movie. Just a thought....

[MtlJeff]

Tom Hanks would be perfect for that one....

[Thrillhouse]

Hutch306, on 24 February 2013 - 10:22 PM, said:

Thrillhouse, on 24 February 2013 - 09:57 PM, said:

My funniest travel story is that time my native krakozhia had a civil war while I was en route to JFK and they couldn't let me through customs because my passport wasn't recognized. I wound up living in the terminal for a year. It wasn't bad, I made some friends, met a hottie, got Bennie golsons autograph.

Listen, I'm no movie writer or anything, but I'm pretty sure you could turn this into a movie. Just a thought....

I know, the fact that I met Bennie golson just makes the whole thing scream Hollywood.

[chickenpotpie]

Jeff, where is the Earl of Sandwich restaurant?  I fly through Detroit all the time and haven't noticed it?  Is it in the north terminal (not the Delta terminal)?

I hate getting a rental car in San Francisco, but love flying in/out of there.  That said, when you go to board a Delta flight, and they call Zone 1 (sky priority only), the whole plane seems to board.  Lots of frequent fliers.

Hate flying into Midway.  Seems like its a contest for pilots to see if they can get going fast enough on take off before hitting a wall at the corner.  Or vice versa, can they slam on the brakes fast enough.

Funniest story:  before 9/11, I was traveling back from a customer in Moline, IL (Quad Cities).  I had purchased a Stanley knife at WalMart during the trip, thinking I'd need it to inspect some materials at the customer.  I never ended up taking it out of the package.  Anyway, it's in my carry on, and security finds it.  They let me keep it though, since it was still in its package.  I remember thinking WTF, but I knew I wasn't a flight risk. Of course, we know that's not true of everyone, and now we get to deal with extra security and invasion of privacy.  Oh well...

[Falang_Golfer]

I used to travel quite a bit for work, frequently to Asia.  Let's see....

Missed opportunity: Usually I sit next to some worthless person, a grandma who conks out and can't move past, some extra large dude taking half my seat, etc.  So the ONE time where I get a gorgeous girl sitting next to me, she is quite nice and also happens to golf.  Awesome.  She even invites me to play some rounds with her in her home city while her husband is away (no kidding).  Problem is I am literally carrying my engagement ring with me to pop the question to my then girlfriend.  Had to decline.  

Most annoying guy next to me:  Yay, I finally got upgraded to first class on a 12 hour flight.  This will be great.  Oh wait, the guy next to me pukes all over his seat and part of mine during TAKEOFF. It reeked the whole trip.  Seriously, you have to be kidding.

Best Airport:  I will have to say Changi in Singapore, it is pretty nice and actually relaxing.  However I do really like Detroit's airport.  It is very nice, very easy to navigate.

Worst Airport:  LAX.  Seriously, it's a dump.  Please fix it already.

Worst bathrooms: Houston (I think I am remembering this correctly).  They are hidden, at strange angles, and really small.  Makes you want to wait for the plane, which is hard to believe.

Pet hijinks:  My overweight pug escaped at SFO (San Fran) and bolted behind the counters and onto the conveyor belts.  They actually let me back there chasing him around.  Hilarious.

Best Food/Restaurant:  The flying saucer type thing at LAX.  It's hard to get to, but that 70's trippy eatery at the center is pretty cool.  It's worth at least saying you've been there.  Plus, you can get a $12 side salad with crouton "space rings".  What a deal!

Worst trip: 20 hours of flying, 2 young kids, 2 dogs, 13 suitcases. Need I say more?

[lumberman2462]

I upgraded to 1st class on a flight from L.A. to New York about 15 years ago and sat next to Sharon Stone.  Some might argue she was past her prime - but still looked pretty damn good.  Actually kinda chatty.

Was on a flight once that was completely full and a guy had a heart attack and died.  His entire family was on the plane and it was a disaster.  Took about 45 minutes to get on the ground to an alternate airport and they actually strapped the guy back in the seat between his wife and daughter.  Bad deal all the way around.

Most amazing spectacle ever:  On another flight the Capt came over the intercomm asking if there were any doctors on board because a passenger had a medical emergency.  Nobody responded so the Captain went down the list asking for nurses, EMTs everything.  Eventually he told us that we were going to make an emergency landing.  The guy sitting next to me said, "Dammit."  Guy stands up and signals to a flight attendant  - turns out this guy was a doctor.  He just wasn't getting involved in whatever was going on until the Captain decided that we were gonna land in Oklahoma rather than Atlanta.  When he came back to his seat I asked him if the lady was ok. "Ehhh, she'll be fine."

Was on a flight with Ashley Judd, her assistants and 9 (not kidding) of her dogs.  She bought tickets for all of them.  All kinds of little mongrels caged up and whining.

Scariest Event Ever:  About to land in Orlando and a wind sheer hit the plane and the pilot aborted the landing.  I was looking out the window and I swear that the wing of the plane came within 3 feet of hitting the terminal.  Second time he tried to land didn't work either.  We diverted to Tampa.  That almost did me in from flying for a while.

[Bitz22]

Did you tell Sharon the line from Naked Gun? " Nice Be%%er!"

[Petethreeput]

Flight from Minneapolis to Miami.  About 13 yrs ago.  This huge guy was napping in seat in front of me.  I was sleeping as well.  I feel a tap on my shoulder.  I open my eyes to the wide-eyes of a an 8 year old kid about 6" from my face.  He asked me, "Are you his bodyguard?"  I say, "No.  Whose bodyguard"  He then tells me the whole story that he was at a camp for urban kids in the forests of MN.  And that even though he proved he was pretty tough in the woods, he was still afraid to wake up The Rock and was wondering if I might not do it for him, "I just want an autograph."  Obviously, if it really was the Rock (I have no idea who he is), he was still flying coach.  Don't think I will ever forget that kids face.  I didn't wake him, but I offered to introduce him after we landed.  He didn't come back.

Flying to HI about 4 years ago.  One of the folks in our group asks who wants sandwiches, and volunteers me and my wife to make them.  She brought a whole slew of snacks for the kids.  As we are assembling sandwiches I get a tap on the shoulder and the guy presents me with a whole tomato.  What are we going to do with a whole tomato.  About 5 seconds later the guy behind me taps me again and passes forward a 6" Cutco knife to cut it with.  Oh my... no fruit allowed in HI, and of course, no knives either.

[Imp]

If you're ever in BWI (Baltimore/Washington) for a layover and flying Southwest, sit near the food court between A1 and A5), but near the glass window. but on the rail. I call this the perch. You can people watch both those going by, and those below. If you're lucky enough you can get near a column and have a plug for your laptop.

Longest flight was Seattle WA to Milan Italy with a change in NY. 18ish hours.

Can't say I've had much of anything to talk about. The guy next to me today just slept. I seem to have that way on people. :sad:

--kC

[MtlJeff]

chickenpotpie, on 24 February 2013 - 10:51 PM, said:

Jeff, where is the Earl of Sandwich restaurant?  I fly through Detroit all the time and haven't noticed it?  Is it in the north terminal (not the Delta terminal)?

I hate getting a rental car in San Francisco, but love flying in/out of there.  That said, when you go to board a Delta flight, and they call Zone 1 (sky priority only), the whole plane seems to board.  Lots of frequent fliers.

Hate flying into Midway.  Seems like its a contest for pilots to see if they can get going fast enough on take off before hitting a wall at the corner.  Or vice versa, can they slam on the brakes fast enough.

Funniest story:  before 9/11, I was traveling back from a customer in Moline, IL (Quad Cities).  I had purchased a Stanley knife at WalMart during the trip, thinking I'd need it to inspect some materials at the customer.  I never ended up taking it out of the package.  Anyway, it's in my carry on, and security finds it.  They let me keep it though, since it was still in its package.  I remember thinking WTF, but I knew I wasn't a flight risk. Of course, we know that's not true of everyone, and now we get to deal with extra security and invasion of privacy.  Oh well...

I don't remember the name of the terminal, but i'm almost positive i was flying to Chicago. I flew to Detroit for a couple of days, but then flew home from Chicago. So i must have had the Earl of Sandwich before my flight to Ohare. This was 2 years ago and i haven't been back to Detroit since so i don't remember

[MtlJeff]

Oh and i have another funny story too, Chickenpotpie. The company i work for won an award at a conference i went to in Las Vegas 4-5 years ago....it was a see-through class type trophy so i just shoved it in my bag. Little did i realize that on an Xray scan it would look like a giant knife. Needless to say the security team at the Mccaran airport hauled me into a room to grill me on the weapon i was bringing over the border! Until they opened the bag that is. Now the second part of this story was that i was dating this girl back then, and had bought a few "outfits" from the local La Senza for her....So it was a little embarrasing having 3-4 dudes take those out and ask me about them , until i just said "cmon guys, just high 5 me and get it over with" (i literally said that). And then they let me go

Also to the guy who mentioned the Singapore airport. Shanghai Pudong is also super easy to navigate and there is lots to do

[SilverBullets]

Hopefully this thread keeps going, I love hearing travel stories.

Favorite Airline - Well they arent actually a airline anymore, and you have to look past the fact that I flew with them on 5 seperate trips, with a total of 10 legs and my flights were either cancelled or delayed 8 out of the 10 legs (5 of which were non weather related).  But, Midwest Air had the single greatest in-air item.... fresh baked, warm chocolate chip cookies.  The plane would take off, the flight attendent would turn on the oven/heater whatever the heck they used, and the entire plane would smell like a Tollhouse factory.  Awesome sauce.  Besides that they were a hideous airline.

My best/worst travel story is a bit long but I will try to condense.  I had been on a engagement in Stockton, CA for 4 months.  Flying from Columbus to CA weekly/biweekly was rough and certainly took it's toll.  Stockton is in the middle of nowhere so ultimately its an hour drive from the SFO, Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento airports... basically we would just take our pick.  Anyway, I flew into Sacramento, rented a car at Avis.  I was in Stockton for 2 weeks, then, had to catch a flight from SFO to Seattle because I was spending a week in this company's main HQ in Seattle.  I took this as a opp to just spend the weekend in Seattle for some personal time.  I had friends there and was visting.  So on Friday I make the hour drive to SFO which is when Avis informs me that I have a $600 or some BS charge to return my car in SFO as opposed to Sacramento (keep in mind, this is with a corp. code).  I get in a full fledged argument with the lady and she brings her manager over.  Nothing was acomplished by these morons.  So I decide to just F-it and change my flights (holla at business select southwest tickets).  So  I decide to spend the weekend in SF then fly out of Sac and just not deal with it.  When I get to Sac my credit card get declined (corp. card).  ERRRRRR alright ill just put it on my personal card... declined.... ERRRRRRR... So I call the corp card and have another frustrating conversation where they inform me that I had not returned a rental car in a month at Hertz in New Orleans.  Apparently some A-Hole ripped my credit card # and stole a car.. whatever, I get past that, they get me a card number that works on the spot (cant remember if they just reactivated it or gave me a new number) so I can return and pay for my car.  Avis now still wants to charge me $850 for a 2 week rental on a corp code because I was 'under 25'.  After working with someone who is actually sensible and has a brain (unlike the SFO Avis idiots) they determined that the dummies in SF added a extra 0 to the corp code which was making it invalid.  I could have easily returned my car in SFO with no charge and they basically 'goofed'.  Idiots.

Oh yeah for what it's worth, my personal card was declined due to suspicious purchases (had bought a engagement ring last time i was home and made multiple purchases in different cities since I was traveling).

[Imp]

SilverBullets, on 26 February 2013 - 11:24 AM, said:

Hopefully this thread keeps going, I love hearing travel stories.

Favorite Airline - Well they arent actually a airline anymore, and you have to look past the fact that I flew with them on 5 seperate trips, with a total of 10 legs and my flights were either cancelled or delayed 8 out of the 10 legs (5 of which were non weather related).  But, Midwest Air had the single greatest in-air item.... fresh baked, warm chocolate chip cookies.  The plane would take off, the flight attendent would turn on the oven/heater whatever the heck they used, and the entire plane would smell like a Tollhouse factory.  Awesome sauce.  Besides that they were a hideous airline.

My best/worst travel story is a bit long but I will try to condense.  I had been on a engagement in Stockton, CA for 4 months.  Flying from Columbus to CA weekly/biweekly was rough and certainly took it's toll.  Stockton is in the middle of nowhere so ultimately its an hour drive from the SFO, Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento airports... basically we would just take our pick.  Anyway, I flew into Sacramento, rented a car at Avis.  I was in Stockton for 2 weeks, then, had to catch a flight from SFO to Seattle because I was spending a week in this company's main HQ in Seattle.  I took this as a opp to just spend the weekend in Seattle for some personal time.  I had friends there and was visting.  So on Friday I make the hour drive to SFO which is when Avis informs me that I have a $600 or some BS charge to return my car in SFO as opposed to Sacramento (keep in mind, this is with a corp. code).  I get in a full fledged argument with the lady and she brings her manager over.  Nothing was acomplished by these morons.  So I decide to just F-it and change my flights (holla at business select southwest tickets).  So  I decide to spend the weekend in SF then fly out of Sac and just not deal with it.  When I get to Sac my credit card get declined (corp. card).  ERRRRRR alright ill just put it on my personal card... declined.... ERRRRRRR... So I call the corp card and have another frustrating conversation where they inform me that I had not returned a rental car in a month at Hertz in New Orleans.  Apparently some A-Hole ripped my credit card # and stole a car.. whatever, I get past that, they get me a card number that works on the spot (cant remember if they just reactivated it or gave me a new number) so I can return and pay for my car.  Avis now still wants to charge me $850 for a 2 week rental on a corp code because I was 'under 25'.  After working with someone who is actually sensible and has a brain (unlike the SFO Avis idiots) they determined that the dummies in SF added a extra 0 to the corp code which was making it invalid.  I could have easily returned my car in SFO with no charge and they basically 'goofed'.  Idiots.

Oh yeah for what it's worth, my personal card was declined due to suspicious purchases (had bought a engagement ring last time i was home and made multiple purchases in different cities since I was traveling).

I'm in CBus now for work this week and will be coming back a few more times this year. What are some good, afternoon, publicly accessible courses?

--kC

[Myherobobhope]

My best travel story: I once flew on a private jet (my uncle's boss's plane) from Dallas to Idaho... it usually takes about 8 hours, private jet took 4... drove up to the plane, the carried my bags on... walked on, took off... got served good food... landed, walked straight off into a car with my bags already loaded. Please and thank you.

I don't have to travel for work, so that's a bonus for me... I did once have to drive from Louisville to Columbus for a 15 minute interview (45 if you include the 30 minutes of bullshiting we did). That was pretty awesome.

When I was flying back to school my sophomore year in college (DFW-BNA), I got dropped at the wrong terminal and was running late... I was also wearing my brand new cowboy boots. DFW is a huge airport to run through... especially in new cowboy boots. After that day, they were the best feeling pair of boots I've ever owned.

Senior year for senior week (drunken shenanigans in Florida) we drove 5 hours with no AC in my car (5 of us)... it was a great road trip, but man was it hot. We took back highways so we could have the window rolled down...

[chickenpotpie]

Jeff, I looked it up, the Earl of Sandwich is in the North Terminal that serves all the "other" airlines in Detroit, including United and American (presuming you flew one of those to O'Hare).  I haven't been over there in many years, since I fly Delta almost exclusively, and they are over in the midfield terminal.

Not sure I posted this on this site, but last year, my wife and I finished adopting a little girl out of eastern Europe (Poland).  On the way back, for some reason, Delta/KLM could not issue a simple "infant in lap" ticket for her, even after a combined 8 hours of trying to do so, with multiple customer service people trying. I tried the Delta Platinum hotline 3 separate times over a 3 week period, and my wife tried the actual ticket desk at the airport in Warsaw twice (combined 4 hours there alone).   I mean, its not like they needed to find her a seat....it is a simple accounting exercise.  So, she ends up missing her flight back home, after having been there for 5 weeks and not having seen our other two kids in that long a time (an absolute eternity, if you have kids).  So, she walks over to the LOT counter (Polish airline), and buys the tickets she needs inside of 15 minutes (going to Chicago now, instead of Detroit....I told her to just pay whatever she had to in order to get the f*** out of Europe and get back to the US).  She gets home, though almost a full 14 hours later, factoring in the drive back from Chicago (vs. Detroit).  The best part is on the flight back, 1) there are guys standing in the aisles for most of the flight just chatting and drinking Jack Daniels, and 2) a lady comments to my wife that our daughter must look like me, because she doesn't look like her (she just smiled and said, yeah).

[Thrillhouse]

chickenpotpie, on 26 February 2013 - 10:37 PM, said:

Jeff, I looked it up, the Earl of Sandwich is in the North Terminal that serves all the "other" airlines in Detroit, including United and American (presuming you flew one of those to O'Hare).  I haven't been over there in many years, since I fly Delta almost exclusively, and they are over in the midfield terminal.

Not sure I posted this on this site, but last year, my wife and I finished adopting a little girl out of eastern Europe (Poland).  On the way back, for some reason, Delta/KLM could not issue a simple "infant in lap" ticket for her, even after a combined 8 hours of trying to do so, with multiple customer service people trying. I tried the Delta Platinum hotline 3 separate times over a 3 week period, and my wife tried the actual ticket desk at the airport in Warsaw twice (combined 4 hours there alone).   I mean, its not like they needed to find her a seat....it is a simple accounting exercise.  So, she ends up missing her flight back home, after having been there for 5 weeks and not having seen our other two kids in that long a time (an absolute eternity, if you have kids).  So, she walks over to the LOT counter (Polish airline), and buys the tickets she needs inside of 15 minutes (going to Chicago now, instead of Detroit....I told her to just pay whatever she had to in order to get the f*** out of Europe and get back to the US).  She gets home, though almost a full 14 hours later, factoring in the drive back from Chicago (vs. Detroit).  The best part is on the flight back, 1) there are guys standing in the aisles for most of the flight just chatting and drinking Jack Daniels, and 2) a lady comments to my wife that our daughter must look like me, because she doesn't look like her (she just smiled and said, yeah).

Fun fact: there are more polish people in chicago than in Warsaw.

Polska!

[lumberman2462]

Thrillhouse, on 26 February 2013 - 10:48 PM, said:

chickenpotpie, on 26 February 2013 - 10:37 PM, said:

Jeff, I looked it up, the Earl of Sandwich is in the North Terminal that serves all the "other" airlines in Detroit, including United and American (presuming you flew one of those to O'Hare).  I haven't been over there in many years, since I fly Delta almost exclusively, and they are over in the midfield terminal.

Not sure I posted this on this site, but last year, my wife and I finished adopting a little girl out of eastern Europe (Poland).  On the way back, for some reason, Delta/KLM could not issue a simple "infant in lap" ticket for her, even after a combined 8 hours of trying to do so, with multiple customer service people trying. I tried the Delta Platinum hotline 3 separate times over a 3 week period, and my wife tried the actual ticket desk at the airport in Warsaw twice (combined 4 hours there alone).   I mean, its not like they needed to find her a seat....it is a simple accounting exercise.  So, she ends up missing her flight back home, after having been there for 5 weeks and not having seen our other two kids in that long a time (an absolute eternity, if you have kids).  So, she walks over to the LOT counter (Polish airline), and buys the tickets she needs inside of 15 minutes (going to Chicago now, instead of Detroit....I told her to just pay whatever she had to in order to get the f*** out of Europe and get back to the US).  She gets home, though almost a full 14 hours later, factoring in the drive back from Chicago (vs. Detroit).  The best part is on the flight back, 1) there are guys standing in the aisles for most of the flight just chatting and drinking Jack Daniels, and 2) a lady comments to my wife that our daughter must look like me, because she doesn't look like her (she just smiled and said, yeah).

Fun fact: there are more polish people in chicago than in Warsaw.

Polska!

I've been to Poland.  Truth being stranger than fiction - Chicago is better.  I don't blame the Poles for wanting to hang out there.

[Myherobobhope]

I hate pretty much every airport I've been in.

Louisville (SDF) is fine... easy to get to, parking is OK, drop off is fine... every single flight is out of the furthest gate. I don't think I've ever flown out of a single digit gate, and 90% of the time they are empty. Food options inside security are MEH, there is a decent place just outside, though.

Dallas (DFW) sucks. It's big, obnoxious and hard to get around (just like me!)... I actually enjoyed staying in their hotel (the nice one) where I introduced my wife to room service. I think the redone parts are better, but it's still just a freaking pain.

Salt Lake City (SLC). I've been on the outside of this airport twice in my life (I think... I might have drive to golf camp there). I've been through the E terminal 100 times at least. I used to love it, with the cinnabon and the random novelty stores when I was a kid.. now it's just kindof an annoying pain. The pictures on the walls between the terminals are nice, though.

I hate both airports in Chicago. They are where dreams go to die.... I'm also usually very hungover when flying home.

The New Orleans airport wasn't bad... it wasn't a great place to sleep off a hangover, though.

[SilverBullets]

Imp, on 26 February 2013 - 05:18 PM, said:

SilverBullets, on 26 February 2013 - 11:24 AM, said:

Hopefully this thread keeps going, I love hearing travel stories.

Favorite Airline - Well they arent actually a airline anymore, and you have to look past the fact that I flew with them on 5 seperate trips, with a total of 10 legs and my flights were either cancelled or delayed 8 out of the 10 legs (5 of which were non weather related).  But, Midwest Air had the single greatest in-air item.... fresh baked, warm chocolate chip cookies.  The plane would take off, the flight attendent would turn on the oven/heater whatever the heck they used, and the entire plane would smell like a Tollhouse factory.  Awesome sauce.  Besides that they were a hideous airline.

My best/worst travel story is a bit long but I will try to condense.  I had been on a engagement in Stockton, CA for 4 months.  Flying from Columbus to CA weekly/biweekly was rough and certainly took it's toll.  Stockton is in the middle of nowhere so ultimately its an hour drive from the SFO, Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento airports... basically we would just take our pick.  Anyway, I flew into Sacramento, rented a car at Avis.  I was in Stockton for 2 weeks, then, had to catch a flight from SFO to Seattle because I was spending a week in this company's main HQ in Seattle.  I took this as a opp to just spend the weekend in Seattle for some personal time.  I had friends there and was visting.  So on Friday I make the hour drive to SFO which is when Avis informs me that I have a $600 or some BS charge to return my car in SFO as opposed to Sacramento (keep in mind, this is with a corp. code).  I get in a full fledged argument with the lady and she brings her manager over.  Nothing was acomplished by these morons.  So I decide to just F-it and change my flights (holla at business select southwest tickets).  So  I decide to spend the weekend in SF then fly out of Sac and just not deal with it.  When I get to Sac my credit card get declined (corp. card).  ERRRRRR alright ill just put it on my personal card... declined.... ERRRRRRR... So I call the corp card and have another frustrating conversation where they inform me that I had not returned a rental car in a month at Hertz in New Orleans.  Apparently some A-Hole ripped my credit card # and stole a car.. whatever, I get past that, they get me a card number that works on the spot (cant remember if they just reactivated it or gave me a new number) so I can return and pay for my car.  Avis now still wants to charge me $850 for a 2 week rental on a corp code because I was 'under 25'.  After working with someone who is actually sensible and has a brain (unlike the SFO Avis idiots) they determined that the dummies in SF added a extra 0 to the corp code which was making it invalid.  I could have easily returned my car in SFO with no charge and they basically 'goofed'.  Idiots.

Oh yeah for what it's worth, my personal card was declined due to suspicious purchases (had bought a engagement ring last time i was home and made multiple purchases in different cities since I was traveling).

I'm in CBus now for work this week and will be coming back a few more times this year. What are some good, afternoon, publicly accessible courses?

--kC

Honestly, Columbus doesnt have a bunch of awesome, must play public tracks.  Every thing good, except for 1 course (Longaberger), is private.  Longaberger isn't even in Columbus, I am still baffled at how they consider it Columbus as it's like 50 miles out of the city and take me an hour to drive too from inside the outerbelt.

Depending on what side of town you are, there are some decent options if you are just trying to get out and get a quick 9 or 18 in.  Specifically, I would look into Winding Hollow, Northstar, Blacklick Woods (cheap, slow greens, but fun overall layout), New Albany Links. Cook's Creek (a bit of a hike, prob 35-40 minutes south of Downtown cbus), Players Club, and then some people love Golf Club of Dublin (not my favorite, generally overpriced for what it is).

PM me if you are looking for somewhere or someone to play with next time you are in town with decent weather.  I'm a member at a small golf only club that has a really fun, tough layout, and am more than willing to get you out there if you want.

[chickenpotpie]

Any favorite international airports?

My personal favorites:

Shanghai PuDong, for reasons mentioned earlier.

Hong Kong, new airport, whatever its called.  Just cool to be in.  I really wish I could have flown into Kai Tak when it was open...the landing pattern is pretty cool to watch.  You can look it up on youtube, but basically large planes fly directly at checkerboard pattern on the side of a hill overlooking the airport.  Once it reaches a certain proximity to the hill and runway, the plane banks hard right, then has to try to square back up to the runway, all while decending.  Watching how the planes have to square themselves up at the end is pretty interesting.

My least favorites:

Charles de Gaulle, Paris.  Signage sucks, and the fastest route between terminals is to actually leave the airport and re-enter.  Ugh.

Trudeau - Montreal.  I may give them a pass, just because it was under construction when I've flown in there.

Frankfurt.  We rolled into the arrivals hall after getting off the plane.  This escalator feeds you directly into a line to go through passport control.  Small problem: the escalator is moving faster than the people are through passport control.  There was a back up that almost caused injury.  Finally, they realized they needed to open more windows.

[SilverBullets]

chickenpotpie, on 27 February 2013 - 02:19 PM, said:

Any favorite international airports?

My personal favorites:

Shanghai PuDong, for reasons mentioned earlier.

Hong Kong, new airport, whatever its called.  Just cool to be in.  I really wish I could have flown into Kai Tak when it was open...the landing pattern is pretty cool to watch.  You can look it up on youtube, but basically large planes fly directly at checkerboard pattern on the side of a hill overlooking the airport.  Once it reaches a certain proximity to the hill and runway, the plane banks hard right, then has to try to square back up to the runway, all while decending.  Watching how the planes have to square themselves up at the end is pretty interesting.

My least favorites:

Charles de Gaulle, Paris.  Signage sucks, and the fastest route between terminals is to actually leave the airport and re-enter.  Ugh.

Trudeau - Montreal.  I may give them a pass, just because it was under construction when I've flown in there.

Frankfurt.  We rolled into the arrivals hall after getting off the plane.  This escalator feeds you directly into a line to go through passport control.  Small problem: the escalator is moving faster than the people are through passport control.  There was a back up that almost caused injury.  Finally, they realized they needed to open more windows.

I was going to bring up CdG in Paris as a horrible airport.  I don't speak a lick of french which made things tough to say the least because the english there isn't marked that well.  In college I studied in a city called Pau in SW France.  I flew into CdG, didn't even realize until I landed in Paris that my next flight to Pau was actually out of Orly (apparently there were no flights from CDG to Pau at the time).  My fligth out of Orly was an hour and 15 minutes after my flight landed in CDG.  Yeah, I showed up almost 2 hours after my flight to Pau left.  Luckily, there was a flight there like every hour.

I had a pretty funny story that happened in Heathrow in London.  On that same college trip (was there for 4 months), I met my mom in London for a few days.  My buddies tagged along as one of them was my best childhood friend and the other two were my roommates back at OU (Ohio),  Anyways, on the Sunday morning we had a flight from Heathrow to Pau which was leaving at like 9:30.  In anticipation, we get to the airport at 6:30.  When we check in the lady at the counter says 'why did you get here 3 hours early"... "um, IDK to be safe on time?"... "no you are late"... "wait, 3 hours is late?".... all she did was point to the security line which was literally wrapped in a rediculous circle around the entire airport.  I kid you not, we stood in that security line until they called our names over the PA system for final boarding.  I'll never forget being in a full sprint to the gate to catch the plane while they are calling our names over the PA.  It was literally a scene out of a movie.

I have a couple good train stories if those count for this thread.  We were on a train from Pau, Fr to Nice, Fr.  It was like a 11 or 12 hour train ride.  We booked a sleeper car on the train and hopped on the overnight train ride hoping to not waste a entire day.  Anyways, we have 4 guys in this sleeper car all spreadout sleeping together (yeah there was some bro bonding time haha).  We wake up in the middle of the night to some Euro Trash's arm being stuck in between the sleeper car doors trying to snatch our s*** which was in the booth with us.  I just remember waking up, seeing the arm and 2 foot kicking the guy's arm as hard as I could.  My sole hope was to watch his arm splinter in half.  Unfortinately I didn't get a clean off shot off to hurt him.  By that point we had seen so much crime/theft in Europe that this didn't even shock us.  It just felt like part of the process.  I will say, I was lucky enough to not have a single item stolen from me in the 4 months I spent there.

One more quick story about Europe from this trip.  Students kept complaining of cash, clothes, food, etc. being stolen from their rooms.  So one day I decide to a little trap.  This was in like 2006 before every laptop had a webcam built into the screen.  I had a USB webcam.  So I turned the light off (yes that was a setting lol) the cam, shut my laptop, but had it setup to not turn off, not standby, etc and record the entire day to a external hard drive.  The cam caught the house keeper red handed.  Searching the ins and outs of any bag, back pack, dresser, closet, etc for goods.  She didn't take anything (I alwyas just carried anything worth value) but she did take a few pulls from our open whiskey bottle and spray herself down with my cologne.  I have left the Do Not Disturb sign up on every hotel room since.

[Jbird33]

Favorite airport, hands down Saskatoon, SK, so love for you Candians.  Probably because the only time I have been there is on hunting trips, but still, it's enjoyable because it is easily navigated, and it's my last chance to enjoy gravy on fries for a while.

Story.....Was in StL airport about a year ago and Suzy Boggus and members of her band broke out in an impromptu unplugged concert at my gate.  I had a connection in Nashville going back home to RDU and I guess she felt like entertaining.

Edited by Jbird33, 27 February 2013 - 03:08 PM.

[bppry]

Coming back from Chicago to Detroit last year, after the lions got destroyed by the bears. The attendent moves this older little Mexican man with a cowboy hat from the exit row cause he didn't speak English. Well we land in Detroit and this man looks out the window and looks at me with a very confused face and says "Dallas?" I say no Detroit and he just looked like someone killed his puppy.

As for airports Atlanta is the worst ever. Every flight coming or going has always been delayed.

[MtlJeff]

Bobhope: Yup, i also don't really like DFW. I got lost once driving around that place. It's just massive. Has it's own zip code i believe

ChickenPotPie: Montreal Trudeau airport is actually really easy to get around once you're inside, but getting there is a real pain. It is probably the worst located airport i've ever been to. I know people from Montreal who've gotten lost on their way to it because of all the construction they've done. There is really no main road that gets you there, and if you miss the exit off the quasi-highway you have to take to get there, it's a little bit before you can turn around. It's just in a terrible location.

also, yup i mentioned earlier Shanghai Pudong is really nice. I felt like there was so much room to move around in there and everything was clearly marked. Plus some nice restaurants. And the Maglev train takes you right there to the middle of the 2 terminals. Very easy

[Falang_Golfer]

Forgot about this one.  Lets see if anyone can top this for pointless airline travel.  

I worked in a factory in Thailand and part of the immigration rules were you had to leave the country every 3 months for a "visa" run.  So one time I needed to do it quickly so I flew from the town I stayed in to Bangkok, then flew to Malaysia, then got off the plane, turned around, got back on the same plane, flew back to Bangkok, then to my town.  Home for dinner.

[chickenpotpie]

Falang_Golfer, on 28 February 2013 - 11:51 AM, said:

Forgot about this one.  Lets see if anyone can top this for pointless airline travel.  

I worked in a factory in Thailand and part of the immigration rules were you had to leave the country every 3 months for a "visa" run.  So one time I needed to do it quickly so I flew from the town I stayed in to Bangkok, then flew to Malaysia, then got off the plane, turned around, got back on the same plane, flew back to Bangkok, then to my town.  Home for dinner.

Not my story, but heard this one in business class one time.  A guy was trying to reach Diamond status on Delta, but was ~10,000 miles short.  So, he booked himself a round trip ticket to Europe, using the cheapest fare he could find to a location that would get him over the top.  He flew there overnight, then turned around and flew home.  I have never been that high up in status, but the guy I was talking to said it was worth it.

[Myherobobhope]

I read an interesting article about the "lifelong first class passes" that American Airlines (?) used to sell... They sounded pretty awesome, but obviously got abused.

They basically gave people the ability to book as many first class tickets as they wanted... hilarity ensued.

Edit to add article:
http://articles.lati...ticket-20120506

Edited by Myherobobhope, 28 February 2013 - 08:41 PM.

[gr8blueheronbird]

Wow!  I would think that this story would make a great movie.  These guys that paid the $350k in the beginning really found a great deal. Almost every place in the world that you would have access to. It is really close to having your own jet for a $350k investment.  Good stuff. Great article.